Sanzuwu Picture

The three-legged raven is a figure that shows up in folklore from around the world. In China, he is known as Sanzuwu, and he is responsible for the sun’s passage across the sky. The three legs represent the Earth, the Heavens and Humanity. In other Asian countries he goes by a different name, and is a divine messenger. He is also a symbol of power. In Korean mythology, he ranks above the phoenix and the dragon. But the three-legged bird is also a very ancient symbol that can be found in neolithic granges, ancient Scandinavian, Italian, Celtic, Egyptian and African art, as well as in Asia. In East Asian cultures, he is associated with the sun. The shapeshifting raven itself is an archetypal solar symbol, and in many Native American creation stories as he is the one who brings the sun’s light into the world.

So my latest artwork is a depiction of Sanzuwu, the Chinese three-legged raven.